


location unknown

by junew



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), M/M, Not Proofread, Pining, T rated for minor swearing, another fic that was originally for a diff pairing LOL, chanhee sunwoo juyeon and sangyeon were briefly mentioned!, idk if you've read this somewhere.. hello again, kevin is a minor character!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 16:04:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18898015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junew/pseuds/junew
Summary: "It hasn't been that long but, boy, you sure do sigh a lot."





	location unknown

**Author's Note:**

> im back again w the bullshit of changing pairings from the previous fics i've written for different ones LOL anyway! 
> 
> not proofread!!
> 
> have fun ;D

Younghoon feels like shit. He also knows he looks like shit from down up. 

Dance practice just ended and on top of that, he just got fired from his current part-time job for "being too friendly" and tolerating everyone who trashes the store (he reasons out that he's just going to clean it afterwards anyway) he's working at. 

He lazily, tiredly dragged his feet on the pavement of the sidewalk, on the way to the station nearby.

Younghoon, born and raised in Korea, is still struggling being a foreigner in New York. It's been years since he's stepped on the foreign soil, miles and miles away from home, nothing but a suitcase towing behind his back and a family cheering for him back home. 

He already risked a lot to start anew in a country he hasn't been before, hell, he can't even speak anything other than his mother language (and his English name). 

Being granted a scholarship means everything to him. With a family struggling financially, Younghoon is ready to bite any bullet targeted at him. So when his professor told him he would recommend Younghoon to one of his friends from a performing arts school in New York, Younghoon immediately agrees. 

And when he got accepted, his bags are already packed, his goodbyes are already said with promises of returning back home with a degree, a proud family, and hopefully, with enough savings in hand.

Younghoon sits down on a waiting bench in front of the train platform, his shoulders hunched down in a tired manner. It's still the rush hour and the trains are packed, people sandwiched together. 

He already wants to go home, to take a shower, and maybe catch up on some sleep, maybe mourn about his dead job, but he's too tired to squish himself in-between of equally tired passengers. So he decided to at least wait for the crowd to disperse even just a little bit.

He takes his phone out of his pocket, typing Kevin (his roommate) a quick message that he might be home later than the usual, and sending it before heaving out a sigh.

" _It hasn't been that long but, boy, you sure do sigh a lot_."  

Younghoon whips his head up at the familiar language filling up his ear. He turns his head at the direction of the speaker.  

"Uh. Sorry. Is something the matter?" Younghoon raised his eyebrows at him and asked him Korean, making the other person surprised.  

"Ah. N-no. I-I'm sorry. I didn't know you're Korean," the stranger apologizes, bowing down.  

"Nah. It's fine," Younghoon shrugs at him, then bows his head as a greeting.  

"I do that sometimes too whenever I wanted to say something without wanting others to understand it. Sometimes I get in trouble because apparently, it's the 20th century. People can learn Korean without having to be... Korean," Younghoon tells the stranger causing the both of them laughing.  

"Tough day?" stranger asks him, crumpling the tissue paper he's been holding.  

"You could say that," Younghoon nods in response.  

"I didn't know you can get fired in America for being too friendly," he lets out a small laugh, shrugging afterwards.  

"Really? Well, I'm so sorry to hear that," the stranger tells him, patting his back.  

"Nah. It's fine. Where are you heading?" Younghoon asks him, nodding his head towards the platforms.  

" _Brooklyn_. Graveyard shift straight from Lucifer's bum," the guy groans, hitting his head on the wall behind his back.  

"That sucks. But still– at least, you still aren't jobless like me," Younghoon answers him, leaning against the wall.  

"New York sure does hit you in the ass," the stranger shrugs. " _Hard_."  

"Tell me about it!" Younghoon laughs at the stranger, his shoulders shaking. He feels better now, only a bit, but it's better than his state earlier.  

"What brings you here?" the stranger asks him, looking at Younghoon with an eyebrow raised.  

"I'm on my way home," Younghoon answers him furrowing his eyebrows when the stranger started laughing.  

"No... No I mean in New York," the other guy tells him after the laughter died down. Man, does he have a cute laugh, Younghoon thinks. Cute dimples, too.

"Scholarship," Younghoon responded. The stranger nods, his lips jutting out in a (cute, if Younghoon may add) way.  

"What about you? What brought you here?" Younghoon asks him back. He looks at the stranger, who has his head tilted up, eyes closed. The stranger swallowed, and Younghoon might have stared at his neck way too long.  

" _Love and dreams_. No. Wait. Let me rephrase that: _hopeless love and crushed dreams_ ," the stranger opened his eyes and looked at Younghoon.  

"I-I'm sorry for asking," Younghoon apologizes, offering him a kind smile.  

"Nah. It's fine. It's been years," the stranger tells him, shrugging his shoulders.  

"My ex moved here from Seoul. Something about job opportunity. We made long distance relationship work, but knowing me, I couldn't take it," the stranger begins talking about his story. Younghoon feels guilty for asking, but he listens anyway. Maybe the stranger needs someone to talk about it now.  

"My ex was everything to me. That's why I followed. I went to this damn hell hole except that it's really cold, I'm telling you, right?" the stranger responded, making Younghoon laugh at his complaint.  

"Anyways, I went here without knowing anyone, without knowing how to even speak the language, which I just picked up from staying here for so long, anyways," the stranger continues, making Younghoon nod in understanding.  

"Uh. Are you sure it's okay to tell someone you've just met this one? You don't have to continue, if you don't want to," Younghoon asks, making sure that he's not upsetting the stranger.  

"Nah. I've got nothing to lose. I don't know you, so you won't go around telling my story to everyone I know," the stranger grins at him (his dimpled cheek catching Younghoon’s attention), making the latter shrug and nod in agreement.  

"Besides, it's weird. I feel like–like you're so easy to talk to? Is it weird? You're a good listener. Feels like we've been friends for so long," the other guy tells Younghoon, flashing him a toothy smile, his pretty, polished, white teeth showing bringing a smile on Younghoon's face as well.  

"I went here in hopes that this will be the place where our dreams will come true, you know?" the stranger adds.  

"Do I sound cheesy?" he asks Younghoon. Younghoon just shakes his head and urged him to continue.  

" _He_ –, this is embarrassing… But I wanted to marry _him_. I wanted to have–to adopt kids with him. I wanted to take care of dogs and their puppies with him. I wanted to grow old with him," the stranger laughs bitterly.  

"But apparently, he couldn't wait and did that first. And to add up as an emphasis... Without me. He did it all without me. Except the growing old part," the stranger smiles at Younghoon. 

Younghoon can see his eyes getting wet with unshed tears, so he almost apologizes again, but the stranger cut it off before he could say it.  

"Anyways, long story short, love messes you up and makes you do crazy things," the other guy tells him, clicking his tongue.  

"Really? That’s unfortunate,” Younghoon sucked in a breath.

“Huh?” The stranger turns his head to look at him.

“I had no idea, but okay, I'm agreeing," Younghoon tells him making the stranger raise his eyebrow at him in doubt.  

"What? Why?" Younghoon asks him when the stranger just kept on looking at him.  

"You what? Never? Experienced being in love?" the stranger asks him. Younghoon nods.  

" _Shut up_ … For real?" the other guy lets out a small laugh making Younghoon look at him with a face.  

"If you count as having a crush on  _Yerin Baek_ being in love, then I already am," Younghoon tells him.  

"That doesn't count," the stranger tells him.  

"Then, you already have an answer," Younghoon looks in front, cringing slightly when his train on the way home is still packed with people, situation much worser than earlier.  

"Fine. I'm gonna believe you because I'm too tired to argue," the stranger tells Younghoon.  

"You know; love does not sound so terrible at all. I just made it sound bad because of my terrible experience with it, but love is amazing. It makes you feel so much things that you didn't know you can feel," the stranger begins talking again.  

"Most of the time, it makes you think, do crazy stuff, but other than that, it makes you a better person. You can learn a lot from being in love, young man–"  

" _I'm twenty-five_."  

"–and no matter how hard it is, you just–you don't give it up that easily when you feel so much... emotions? Whatever, you get it, towards the person," the stranger finishes his semi-speech.  

"It's great. I hope someday, you feel it too, and without regrets," he smiles at Younghoon.  

"For a moment I thought you were the ahjussi who lives nearby at my house in Korea there," Younghoon jokingly grins at him making the stranger scowl.  

"How old are you, anyways?" Younghoon asks the stranger.  

"I'm twenty-four," the guy answered him. 

“You’re younger then,” Younghoon mumbles, earning a low hum from the stranger.

The both of them got silent for a while, only the area around them buzzing from people talking, hurried footsteps made to catch their own trains, and sound of the machines working.  

"It feels good to talk in your own language at times like this. No, let me say that again. It feels so good being able to talk with someone from your country at times like this," Younghoon breaks the silence by talking with the strange again. The stranger nods, humming in agreement.  

"Why? You don't know someone here?" the stranger asks Younghoon.  

"I do. I do. I'm in a Korean Organization in uni, but we're always too tired to talk a lot, you know? We're just there, basking in each other's presences for the hell of it. It counted as home. But now, being able to freely talk with you, I realized, I might have to changed my standards of what being 'at home' means and feels like," Younghoon grins at the stranger, making him blush.  

"Ah. You made me blush, mister. Kudos to you. I'm usually stone-hard, but you cracked me," the stranger looks away, smiling, his dimples showing.  

"My friends told me it's one of the things I do best," Younghoon shrugs. He was about to say something again, but the stranger suddenly stands up, startling Younghoon. He stands up with the stranger who, he realizes, is a bit shorter than him.  

"I'm sorry, but I have to go! My train is here, and it's almost time for work. Nice meeting you!" the stranger squeezes his shoulder, then started leaving Younghoon.  

"Don't tell anybody about my tragic love story!" the stranger says it all in one breath and runs for the train, waving at Younghoon with a wide smile before the door closes.  

As he watches the train go, he suddenly realized something. He knows it's going to fuck him up big time.  

Younghoon didn't get his name.  

\----------------  

"Younghoon. It's been a week. Stop pining over a stranger you barely know!" Kevin, his roommate, kicks his leg from where he's sprawled out on the floor, making Younghoon yelp in pain.  

"You don't even know his name, yet you act like you're already head-over-heels in love, or something," the younger huffs in annoyance.  

"That's the thing, Kev! I don't even know him that much, I don't know even know his damn name, but here I am! Already in love! What more if I get to know him? Just how deep would I fall for him?" Younghoon whines, planting his face on the floor. Kevin just ignores him, heading straight to their shared-kitchen. Younghoon hears Juyeon laugh somewhere in their apartment, but he just pays it no mind. 

"We've been hearing the same shit for over a week already," Chanhee pipes up, sitting on the couch near Younghoon.  

"And you're probably gonna hear it over and over again until Younghoon-hyung finds out who this damn Brooklyn guy is," Sunwoo tells Chanhee, plopping himself beside him. Younghoon lifts himself up on the floor and sits crossed-leg in front of Chanhee and Sunwoo.  

"Hyung, I don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but New York is damn big. The Korean community may be large as well, but we're nothing compared to the whole population of New York," Sunwoo tells him, sipping on his cup of hot chocolate, wincing when he scalds his tongue. Chanhee laughs at that.  

"So, yeah, you won't know who he is that easily. Or not at all," the younger smiles at him apologetically.  

"What Sunwoo meant, _Younghoonie_ ," Chanhee starts, with a sweet voice. Younghoon winces.

"Is that you're a dumb fuck. Who even talks to someone without knowing their name first?" he continues. Younghoon just glares at him, standing up to sit beside Sunwoo. 

For once, he agrees with Chanhee. He's a dumb fuck. 

 _Fuck_.  

\----------------  

Younghoon went home that day, his shoulder hunched in annoyance and sadness. Not having any more strength, he just drags his bag on the road he's walking on, earning weird looks from people around him. 

He keys in the passcode of their apartment (1004 because Jaehyun said it will guide them away from bad spirits making Sunwoo wheeze, telling him that he himself already is a bad omen), kicks off his shoes, throws his bag somewhere in the living room, and plants his face on their couch that smells like Jaehyun’s ass, but he couldn't care about that now.  

"How's today?" Kevin asks Younghoon, making his way to the living room from the kitchen. Younghoon smells chicken, but he doesn't feel hungry.  

"I got fired for being too kind," Younghoon answers him, his voice muffled because of the cushions.  

"What?"  

" _Tfhdhs inftnsatnt rigrnffhhdf nwrhphhh_ ," Younghoon begins speaking again, his face plopped on the couch, making Kevin laugh.  

"Younghoon, I can't understand you. Lift your head up to speak, please."  

" _Keviiiin_ ," Younghoon whines, then looks up, pouting.  

"What is it? You got fired?" Kevin sits beside him, putting Younghoon's head on his lap.  

"Yeah," Younghoon breathes out.  

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kevin pats his forehead.  

"That isn't important. I've moved on from it already," Younghoon answers him making Kevin raise his eyebrow.  

"I've moved on from it because I got to talk to someone while waiting for my train back home earlier," the younger continues.  

"He's Korean as well. We didn't talk about my job, but...." Younghoon suddenly remembers the stranger's last words to him,  _don't tell anybody about my tragic love story_!

Younghoon can still recall the way he smiled and waved exaggeratedly, his cute dimples that appeared so clearly which he cannot seem to get off his mind; it made him smile a little.  

"… Other stuff. It honestly took my mind away from the shit I experienced today. He was so easy to talk to. Felt like we've been friends for so long already," Younghoon finishes, not without sighing.  

"Then why are you so sulky?" the younger asked him.  

"I didn't get his name, Kev," Younghoon pouts.  

"I mean, I was about to, but his train came. He was going to Brooklyn,"  

"Eh. That's fine. You'll meet a lot of new people, anyways," Kevin cards his hands on Younghoon's hair. Younghoon relaxes.  

"Hmm. But he's different, Kevin. I like him already. It's weird. Is this what love at first.... meeting feels like?" Younghoon asks him seriously. It made Kevin laugh loud.  

"Oh, Younghoonie," Kevin just looks down and smiles at him.  

Younghoon exhales, closes his eyes, and imagines the stranger's face, smiling at him.  

\----------------  

 Younghoon got the idea from one of his friends at the local Korean students organization in his university. 

It's a weird one and the chances are only twenty out of a hundred, but like what the stranger said to him, love fucks you up and makes you do crazy things, but love makes you learn a lot of things. 

It makes you learn how to wait.

So that is what Younghoon does.

He waits.

\----------------  

Younghoon sits on the same bench at the same station, near the platform, with his back leaning against the wall. 

He sits there, attentively, for at least two hours, after classes or after his usual activities, at around the same time he met the guy. He does this everyday of the week before heading home. 

Being jobless that he is, he has nothing to lose but time. He watches all the doors his eyes can spot to look for a familiar face, going in and out of the train to and from Brooklyn. 

But alas, he hasn't succeeded yet, hence still sitting on the same spot. 

Younghoon, sometimes, sits with a friend waiting for the people to disperse, keeping him in company as well, but most of the time, he sits alone. 

He sometimes (a lot, to be honest) thinks if the guy was also thinking of Younghoon (which will be quite unfair if he isn't) which Younghoon finds ridiculous because they've just met once, no way in hell will the stranger remember him. 

It's unfortunate on Younghoon's part because the stranger wasn't just someone who can easily be forgotten despite only meeting him once. 

Younghoon groans inwardly.  

He didn't tell Kevin the reason why he's going home later than the usual considering that he doesn't have a job at the moment. But Kevin found out through one of Younghoon's friend who accompanied him at the train station.  

("He's a lovesick fool, Kevin. Probably only the first time experiencing the feeling, I don't know. Let him be. I believe that he'll be able to find him. Fate works in funny ways. Younghoon's a good guy. He deserves something good to happen to him," Sangyeon tells Kevin, making the younger agree.  

"Just. Just do something if it gets too much," Sangyeon laughs. Kevin nods.)  

"So... Found him already?" Kevin asks, craning his neck towards the door from the couch at Younghoon who just arrived. The older only looked at him surprised.  

"How'd you know?" Younghoon sits beside him.  

"You're not so subtle. You're not the type to go home late being jobless and a couch potato," Kevin laughs at him. Younghoon clicks his tongue at the last one. 

"Sangyeon asked me about you, and told me what you told him," the younger shrugs.  

"Sorry for not telling you. I don't want you to think I'm too crazy," Younghoon apologizes, pouting at Kevin.  

"But you are crazy," Kevin raises his eyebrows, making Younghoon whine.  

"Okay. True, though. I pine a lot. What can you say, I'm crazy in love," Younghoon grins. It made Kevin fake gag. The both of them laugh at the ridiculousness of everything.  

\----------------  

He was later than the usual today. Dance exams for a major class got extended for another hour, resulting for the professor to dismiss them at a later time. 

Three weeks have passed. Younghoon has been waiting for three weeks, sitting on the same bench, at the same station, around the same time. 

Younghoon still hasn't succeeded.

He won't lie to himself and tell that he still has a lot hope because he's actually feeling the opposite of that. 

Kim Younghoon, who went to New York with hope and determination to make his family proud and return to help them, realizes that maybe it's not the same for everything. 

Maybe hope, determination, and patience are different when it comes to falling in love. Maybe Younghoon isn't ready for it yet. 

Maybe–maybe what he's feeling isn't as strong as love is supposed to be.  

Younghoon hunches down, his face buried on his palms as he listens to the speakers blasting up an announcement about the last train to Brooklyn was already arriving. 

He sighs. He's too tired. 

It’s late. He decided that he'll retreat for the night, come back tomorrow, and do this again for one more week. Just one more week. Then he'll just let his fate play with him. Younghoon hopes it plays him good. 

Younghoon sighs, removes his hands on his face, then grabs his duffle bag on the floor, next to his leg without looking up. He exhales again in exhaustion. 

Somebody cleared their throat beside him.

Younghoon almost got whiplash from how fast he lifted his head up when he heard a familiar voice.  

" _It hasn't been that long but, boy, you sure do sigh a lot_."   

For the first time in weeks, Younghoon feels the weight on his shoulders disappear as he looks at the man, who he has been waiting for, smiling at him. The familiar dimpled cheek that he could not get his mind off of (finally) now in front of him.   

"Figured you didn't get it the first time we met," the guy began speaking.   

"My name's  _Ji Changmin_ , and you are?"   

**Author's Note:**

> ???
> 
> inspired by somewhere in brooklyn by bruno mars  
> title taken from the song location unknown by honne
> 
> kudos & comments are appreciated<3
> 
> thank you so much for reading!


End file.
